Corsair Mosaic Hopped Whiskey

Rating: 13/23 N: There's a lot of hops mixed with some mellow yet fresh chocolate, spearmint, a hint of more direct menthol, some spices (lots of ginger, then lesser amounts of clove, cinnamon, and allspice), a bit of butterscotch, and a maybe few other herbs that get kind of mixed in wit the spices. It isn't a terribly complex nose, it's somewhat muddled, and the hops make this kind of flat, unappealing note, but it's pretty intriguing and actually pretty enjoyable in spite of its faults. P: This isn't a very balanced palate and it isn't terribly complex either. There's a big hop bitterness that is unfortunately flat, but does have some mintiness mixed in along with a tingly spiciness that just avoids being numbing (well, long-term numbing) and kind of makes me think of fresh Christmas spices. The spiciness is good in spite of being numbing until it starts bringing out some graphite and mineral. There's some milk chocolate providing moderate richness, a hint of butterscotch, and a spiciness that makes me think of rye. I kind of like the sweetness that eventually comes out. I get some delicate cereal in here as well. The overall impression is a mix of refreshing and hedonistic with the hops and minerals staring down the chocolate across a bridge of various spices. The side flavors are interesting and tasty, but unfortunately that flat hops and minerals are tough to deal with. F: The hops remain and so does some spiciness. The chocolate is surprisingly present as well. The chocolate really works into the finish here, making it pretty satisfying, but the minerals make themselves known here, leveraging the cloves, spearmint, and other fresh spices to the dram's detriment. The official tasting notes mention peach, tangerine, shortbread and jam. I think I can kind of get the shortbread and some jamminess, but there is no particular fruit flavor that I can really pick out. If you have a palate ready to be hit by hops (and by that I mean a somewhat burned-out palate), this is actually pretty enjoyable, kind of like a chocolatey rye. It's never terribly complex, but it can be interesting and balanced. Really though, it would have been better if it had been less hoppy. Corsair's products are always at least interesting to try. This one is sometimes good, but mostly I think it's just an interesting experience. It really comes down to the state of your palate. On a fresh palate, this is immature and jarring, so a 13 would be generous and it could be as low as a 10. On a palate after having a bunch of high proof bourbon and rye, as well as a dash of absinthe, a 12 seems as low as it could possibly be and a 15 doesn't seem that implausible. Considering that, it has to be a 13 or a 14. If I rate it just on the post-bourbon palate state, I'm pretty on board with a 14. If I need to combine them, it's a 13. I do want to give it that 14 for the delightful chocolate and other intriguing flavors. I usually try to rate drinks based on how they behave in the best possible situation. Trying a liqueur or cheap spirit? Maybe rate it on how it does in cocktails. Rating an elegant Highlander? Have it on a fresh palate, not right after an Islay flight. I think though that there is a line across which it is not reasonable to accept the limited scope that a drink is good in and I think that this is on the wrong side of it. Requiring drinking a bunch of high proof bourbon first is not the same as prohibiting drinking high proof bourbon first. It requires willfully impairing your palate and subscribing to a fixed drink ordering just so that that you can appreciate that one. For that reason, I think I need to settle on a 13. Still, I am enjoying this bottle. It's a really interesting experience and I would highly recommend trying it (and most Corsair products) in a bar. And if it's the end of the night and your palate is shot, this may be just the thing to end it on.

This is a new one, Corsair Mosaic is a single malt whisky that’s been vapor hopped through the distillation process. Thanks @ContemplativeFox for the sample to try as I’ve only had one whisky before this that had hops included and that was Charbay S Lot 211A which I liked a lot, so interested in how this experiment with hops went. Going into this one is reminiscent of a past experience from my childhood. So let’s start up my childhood/whisky story. I used to play little league baseball and my prime position was right field, then one day my coach decided I am ready for a change and has me play third base. Similar to this whisky, I question if I want to step out of my comfort zone and try something else and decide to go for it. So I get all set up, pitcher is ready, batter comes up and I take my position ready to play. The nose on this is starts with lemon pine-sol, freshly cut grass, a pile of freshly pulled weeds from the garden, flint rocks, used cooking oils, light caramel, ginger and moderate ethanol burn. So the nose is interesting and kind of a weird funky, definitely some new flavors I’ve not had in a whisky before. Much like playing third base for the first time, it’s different, and a feeling of nervousness and excitement all at the same time. So the game has begun and now the batter comes up, pitcher throws the first pitch of the game and I’m ready, then all of a sudden the batter crushed the ball and I have a line drive headed right for me. Time for a taste. The taste is medium mouthfeel starting with lemon pine-sol, grass clippings, piles of pulled weeds, flint rocks, bitter dark chocolate finishing with ginger and barrel spices with a strong burn. The taste is similar to what happened next in the story, the baseball came at me and bounced off my chest, similar to the hop flavor bomb of this whisky. It’s so much, I’m looking for water and ready to head back to right field to kick dandelions and watch planes fly over again. The finish is weedy, spicy with ginger beer that’s unbalanced and too much ginger, some bitter chocolate and long, those herbal notes stick around much like my chest pain after getting clobbered by the baseball and the bruising my tongue has endured from this whisky. It takes time to heal but lingers for minutes. One would think, I would learn from the first tasting, but I repeated this multiple times to make sure it wasn’t just a surprise shock. It turned out to not be a surprise shock and each time was another line drive of weedy hop covered baseball rocketing at my chest, that I was incapable of catching, followed by knocking me off my feet again and again. I am now back to right field with a bottle of WR double oak, enjoying my Hershey syrup covered banana split as I work through the emotional and physical toll Mosaic has done to me. Perhaps a visit to a psychiatrist called Dr. Jack Daniels to get some much needed barrel proof medication is required.

Rating: 14/23 Bottle kill tasting. This has had quite a bit of air. N: Bright, bitter hops that border on lemony with sort of a shortbread backing. Very slight hints of grain and malt. Green banana, sort of vegetal. A bit of buckwheat funkiness. It's not bad, but that hop smell is too extreme and the balance seems off. "Challenging" is the main word that comes to mind. Very faint meaty savoriness. Actually, that's a little sulphur. How did I not notice that before? P: This is more balanced than the nose. It's very sharply hoppy with bitter herbs paired with bright lemon, graphite, and a dash of peppermint (maybe I should look up the definition of "paired"). Then there's a nice, mellow layer of shortbread with sort of a bit of cocoa powder tossed in or something coming out of the graphite. It isn't fully chocolate shortbread, but there's a decent amount of that happening. I get a hint of something fruity. It's tart, but also sweet and red, and understated, sort of like a thin layer of raspberry jam. I'm liking this palate decently, but the complexity is minimal and the balance is kind of off considering how numbing this is. It's like a few distinct flavors were put near each other but not fully combined. It's kind of a brutalist palate, actually. F: Numbing hops. Some bright herbal character. A little of that jam. Maybe some lemon and shortbread near the back. - Conclusion - I like this well enough. I can sip it. I don't like how the hops numb my palate though, so at best it's situational. Really, the palate's balance comes together nicely, but it is too numbing. This is much better than my first impression and it's almost like a nice cocktail. Side by side, this is more interesting and mature than Dewar's 15 (13). Comparisons are difficult with this one, but I feel like this somewhat heavily aerated form is better than the Dewars. Copperwork's New Oak Cask Finished Gin (17) seems better than this does. Weird comparisons here, for sure. So I'm looking at a 15 to 16. I'm not feeling good about giving this a 16. The balance really does work here, but maybe only because of that numbing character, which is itself a problem. Also, that sulphuric nose can't be dismissed. I'm thinking a 15. Actually, I'm going back down to a 14. I just can't go super high with how numbing and aggressive the hops are.

13: The nose is pretty sharp - with flavor, not alcohol. There's a lot of scents making statements here. The palate is somewhat balanced, but young. It reminds me a bit of rye (Copper Fox), tequila, and cane rum because of its youth, but it's fundamentally different. It reminds me most of aged gin. There's a fair amount of spice like rainbow peppercorn (bringing in some floral fruitiness) and green peppercorn (bringing in some bitter juniper). There's a lot of piny juniper here, though a big floral element is present too. It's super herbal. It certainly doesn't taste very young. There is some mild clay flavor too and also a hint of mushrooms. The fruit is very floral with I guess a sweet apricot flavor mixed with a bit of bitter orange peel and a touch of vanilla. There's a lot to complex flavors here, but the balance could use some work. It's a very interesting experience, but not one that I greatly enjoy. Definitely drinkable, but not the excellent flavor that is present in the Corsair Grainiac. The hops are interestingly and oddly floral in a way that definitely doesn't make this taste like an IPA, but it's good in its own way. I'd be very interested to try a more aged version of this thst mellowed and balanced the flavors more, whereas the Grainiac tastes of optimum balance already. The herbal, hoppy finish with floral wafts/notes is quite nice, though not at all exemplary. The real problems here are that it is reminiscent of several things without being quite like them and that it's also quite young in its flavor profile. It tastes very green - not so much grassy. The bitterness has quite a bite, but really it just tastes like a lot juniper (though really it goes so far that it tastes like pine). It's a godsend that that apricot sweetness balances it. This has a lot better balance and character than many (most?) gins, putting it pretty high up even among the barrel aged ones. I'd probabaly rate it higher if it were called a gin. There's a lot to like here, but it isn't refined as it should be as a whiskey.

whereas the other dry-hoppin' varieties are like hops in one hand and whiskey in the other-a really good oil & vinegar dressing, if you will, this is a beautiful blend. The hops left hand and the whiskey right hand shaking hands.

Bright floral hops up front. Slightly thin, astringent as it goes on. Interesting.